The January Mini

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That would be the Cisco PKM908.

http://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/products/collateral/video/remote-controls-keyboards/ol_28628_01.pdf

 

That would be the one. I wonder how many of these cards Cisco has actually produced and how you would go about trying to get one from your cable company. I'm guessing that unless you are friends with the right people, it would be impossible to get one. And of course if you live in a Motorola area, you would be out of luck, as I don't think they have ever made an 8-tuner card.

 

For TiVo use what good would it do?, as TiVo (as of now) could use only 6 of the 8 streams ??

 

I think this is more of a theoretical discussion. From a practical standpoint, there is no real use for an 8-stream card unless/until TiVo makes a DVR with 8 tuners. I guess that is just something to look forward to in the Series 6 TiVo. They can call it the "TiVo RoamiOcho".

 

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The latest firmware for my Cisco STA1520 tuning adapters bumped the tuner support level to 8 as well.

As I said in some other thread, it would seem some player in the market must be planning on offering an 8 tuner product. I doubt the foundations, and all the costs involved with making them, are for "just in case someday...".

Look at how long it took for some 6 tuner TiVo users to get use of all 6, with some still waiting for their provider to allow/enable it. Providers are only required to support as many tuners as their highest tuner count leased STB/DVR, leaving some markets limited for TiVo users with higher tuner counts, and no recourse. This is with cards and TAs limited by the firmware, but not the hardware. I'm leaving infrastructure speculation out of this.

This leads me to believe it must be a major MSO who is looking to offer 8 tuner support (and must feel sure it will happen). If it were TiVo, or any other retail device (alone), they'd have to wait for the MSOs to offer 8 tuner devices, to expect their retail products to have any hope of using all tuners.

While there is no denying that hardware capable of 8 tuners is already out there, anything else about what its existence may mean is speculative at this time (unless I missed an announcement, citing facts).

The existence of 8 stream M-cards, plus the revelation that the existing Cisco TA hardware can support them, kind of eases worries that cablecards are "going away" as some worry about (legitimately so). It's hard to fathom that Cisco would invest further in something many see as "doomed", by moving past fabrication and certification, which doesn't come cheap.

It's hard to tell if this is normal progression, or a last-ditch attempt to make cablecards "attractive", or to prove to the power that be, that it still has room to grow, thus proving it is not "dying", in hopes of preventing it's demise (by legislation). It's harder to declare a technology that is still growing in capabilities, as obsolete...

It gives me a small amount of hope that I need not stockpile extra cablecards (and continue paying for them every month), in order to prevent obsoletion of my TiVos, should Comcast succeed in creating a replacement technology, which has the potential to allow all MSOs to stop issuing cablecards, should they adopt the replacement.

This is pretty far OT for the thread. So, it's likely best to move on from the subject, and get back on topic.

 

The 8-tuner TiVo is rather unlikely. The Mini with a tuner. Not gonna happen, unless they introduce a new version of the Preview for their MSO partners, where the CableCard requirement isn't an issue.

 

The idea of a tuner or CC on this device seems unrealistic for the size and what it's marketed as.

If you go read the FCC documents linked it shows the main reason for request is validation of the new antenna system to support Zigbee. It also lists all of the ports on the new TGN-TCDA93000 (see attached image).

I'm not completely familiar with what goes into FCC requests so I don't know if say a new CPU or non-radio chips would show up in these requests. Also according to the filing several documents are listed as short term (180 days) "classified" and some are permanent "classified" status.

 

Interesting. What's a "Helium DVR"? Maybe it's a mini that connects to the Helium DVR, i.e., lighter than air, as in a cloud DVR? So maybe TiVo is releasing and announcing the in the cloud Helium DVR which the new mini will connect with through the interwebs? Haha, yeah I know. Still dreaming, but it's fun!

 

Well crap, there's a new Mini coming? And I just bought one last week... Hopefully the new Mini doesn't have something I want/need.

 

Probably just the RF remote. And for all we know, the price of the "new" Mini could jump back up to $250. An RF remote isn't worth $100+.

 

I think they'll keep it at $150, as their whole big pitch now is "one monthly fee". Or as smart buyers who buy Lifetime would know, "no monthly fee".

 

An hour ago I bought two more minis, taking my total to seven. Went to Best Buy, they matched the Sam's Club $114, plus I had $75 in Best Buy Rewards. $167 for two Minis, not bad considering I bought 4 at $250 a pop.

Now I have a mini on every TV in the house.

 

Nice! I love my 3 Mini's although they still will never be a full TiVo!

 

I never saw the appeal, then saw all the issues with them not working when the TiVo Service was down, decided "no way!", was tempted by the pricing overlap deals, reviewed what they could do, assuming the issues were fixed, still set on if I'm going to spread TiVos around, they might as well have storage in them, and add tuners...

Not expecting this to change for the January Mini, but I'm here, following the subject...

 

I think the appeal for most of us is a simple matter of economics. If you don't need the extra tuners or storage space, a Mini is much more affordable (and practical) than a full-fledged DVR. This is especially true if your MSO charges you a sizable monthly fee for additional CableCARDs.

I had a Premiere Elite and a basic Premiere, all w/PLS. I purchased a Mini w/PLS in September for $82.60 (including tax) and resold the basic Premiere for $375. Besides being almost $300 in-pocket, I'm saving $90 p.a. in MSO fees ($9.95 p.m. for the CC less $2.50 COE credit).

So far I am completely satisfied with the Mini's performance. Granted I gave up two tuners and 320GB of storage, but I like the smaller form factor and there is no HDD to worry about flaking out.

 

Wow! $375 for the Premiere? I still have a lifetime Premiere that I need to get around to selling sometime. TiVo had transferred the $6.95 a month service from teh Premiere to a Roamio Basic and then gave me Lifetime for $99. It had been sitting there fo rmonths turned on wasting electrccity. I only unplugged it recently since I have no desir or reason to use it.

 

Yeah, I would have let it go for less, but it was in great condition, I threw in an extra remote that I didn't need, and I gave the buyer a lot of technical assistance pre- and post-sale so it was a pretty good deal for both of us.

 

I'm considering my first Mini. Does this Sam's Club deal include lifetime service, or do you have to get the $149 deal through TiVo to get the lifetime?

 

You can activate lifetime service on any Mini for free until at least January 6, so just buy the cheapest one you can find.

 

That's part of it. Not having to pay another $7/mo for a CableCard, plus probably $5/mo in electricity is nice. However, another attraction is having that single, unified experience on all TVs. It's nice to be able to turn on any TV and have a nearly identical experience. The only thing I don't like is having that single point of failure. I decided that when I upgrade to an upgraded Roamio Plus, I'll give my XL4 to my parents, and have unified system with 6 tuners for myself. I think 6 tuners and 4TB of disk space on one Roamio should be enough.